4.15pm

Senior Democrats unveil Iraq pullout plan

Senior congressional Democrats today threw down the gauntlet to the Bush administration by unveiling legislation setting a timetable for a US troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The direct challenge to the White House follows the president's decision last month to send an extra 21,500 troops to Iraq despite growing public opposition to the war.

The plan calls for a complete withdrawal of combat forces by August 2008 at the latest. A senior House Democrat, David Obey, said the plan will bring an "orderly and responsible close" to American participation in Iraq's "civil war".

Having regained control of Congress in the November midterm elections, the Democrats are now using their new-found political muscle to contest the president's Iraq policy.

An influential group of liberal House Democrats said they would oppose their own leadership's plan to push for a complete withdrawal of US troops by the end of this year.

Yet George Bush, whose term will end next November, shows no sign of bending and there is every chance that American troops will remain at present levels at least until the end of his tenure.

The day-to-day commander of American forces in Iraq has recommended that the heightened American troop levels there be maintained through February 2008.

The New York Times reports that the recommendation from Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno reflects the new counterinsurgency doctrine requiring US and Iraqi government forces to hold territory to deny insurgents safe havens.

This "clear-and-hold" policy is favoured by the new commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, who was appointed by Mr Bush last month in a last-ditch attempt to quell sectarian warfare in Baghdad.

Barack Obama, one of the Democratic frontrunners in the presidential race, last year unveiled his own legislation in the Senate calling for a withdrawal of all US combat forces by the end of March 2008.

Mr Bush has always opposed any suggestion of a timetable for pulling out US troops.